Do you have a Bachelor's or Master's degree in a specialized field and a United States based company who is willing to sponsor you? Do you have two years or more of experience working in the same type of field? It is even possible to have less than two years of experience and still get the EB-3 Employment Based Petition through the I-140.
You may qualify for an EB-3 I-140 petition. First, you will need to go through the PERM system to obtain a Labor Certification. Then you need to have an employer who is willing to sponsor you through the I-140 as the second step toward receiving a green card. Once the I-140 is approved, you can either adjust status or consulate process to actually get the Green Card. The EB-3 is a way for educated individuals or people with relevant work experience to ultimately obtain their Green Card through employment-based petitions.
Many people think that the only way to obtain the Green Card is through the family. In fact, sometimes it is necessary to wait many years to get the visa number to become current. However, with an employment based third preference petition, depending on where you were born, this visa could take much less time. You could be here in the U.S. working as a lawful permanent resident years before a family-based petition might be current.
Once you would receive the Green Card through the employment-based petition, you would have to have the intention to work full time for the company that petitioned you. Clearly, you could not work for another company or decide not to work at all and just pick up the Green Card. Should you work at the company that petitioned you and then something goes wrong with the employment at some later date, you would be able to quit and move onto another company.
The I-140 is the second petition in the process and very important. It must be completed and submitted within 180 days of the approved PERM. Once the I-140 is hopefully approved, you would need to do either the Consulate Processing or the Adjustment of Status depending on if you qualify to adjust status in the U.S. This would conclude the three different petitions you need to proceed forward to final adjudication of lawful permanent residency.
As an Immigration Lawyer, we are very aware of the red tape and the multiple items that could go wrong with any particular petition and/or application. Thus, this example should provide you a very clear path with which you can use to prepare your own I-140 Petition in ord